1. Field of the invention
This invention is in the field of the collecting and removal of debris from the surface of ponds.
2. Background
Field of Search—US Class 210/470; 210/242.1; 210/238; 210/167.2; 119/213; 56/8; 56/9; 43/11; 43/14; 43/102; 43/104; 43/105
Intl. Class E04H 4/16; E04H 4/00; E04H 003/20Patents-1,703,402Feb. 26, 1929Matsuoka 56/84,518,495May 21, 1985Harding210/4705,235,797Aug. 17, 1993Sygen 56/95,487,258Jan. 30, 1996McNabb 56/96,672,039Jan. 06, 2004Shonnard 56/87,232,523Oct. 27, 2003Clay210/238
On the surface of bodies of water there often accumulates debris including filamentous algae and various floating aquatic plants. This invention is a device to be used by one or two persons for the removal of this surface debris on small bodies of water, shallow water, or where the use of heavy equipment is not justified.
Search of prior art identifies many devices intended to remove the debris on the surface of swimming pools or large bodies of water; there appears to have been no effort to find an effective way in which to remove the floating debris from the surface of ponds and shallow bodies of water. The referenced prior art is as close to addressing this problem, al-be-it in different situations, as I can find. The closest of all the patents found is the Harding U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,495. Harding disclosed a means of skimming the surface debris from swimming pools with netting held open by a rectangular frame supported by pontoon shaped floats; in some respects it is quite similar but certainly not intended nor capable of the accumulation of the relatively large amounts of debris often encountered in ponds. Other solutions proffered for pools include circulation pumps with screens, and screens of the general shape of a tennis racquet or fish net with long handles—again not applicable to the gross debris accumulations found on ponds.